Native America Calling

Electronic dance beats with a heavy house blend has taken off in the past decade. This month we connect you to one Indigenous musician that really knows how to wrangle the beats. Dan “DJ Shub” General of the Mohawk Nation just released his debut solo project titled “PowWowStep.” Formerly of A Tribe Called Red, DJ Shub continues to bring the sound that many audiences have embraced as they step to the dancefloor. The award-winning music mixer is our December Music Maker.

We tend to amp up the cakes, cookies and other tasty foods filled with sugar, salt and carbs during holiday seasons. That can get people with diabetes in trouble. It can cause unsafe spikes in blood sugar levels in the short term and lead to unhealthy weight gain in the long term. So are people with diabetes doomed to sacrifice during feast times? We’ll see what some solutions are and get ideas for ways to enjoy celebratory meals without overindulging.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II gives his take on the recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision, the unprecedented show of tribal force, and some of the next steps he anticipates in the coming weeks and beyond. The effort to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Missouri River is a court battle, a federal policy game-changer, and a movement capable of withstanding a North Dakota winter. Join us for this important update.

Cooking connects people with their food on a personal, nutritional and even spiritual level. But it’s easy to drift away from your kitchen range when there’s an ever-growing freezer section in the grocery store. The trend is clear in a two-year-old study by the marketing group, NPD: there’s a steady decline in the number of people who say they don’t cook. For Native Americans, there’s the potential added loss of traditional practices. Should you spend more time in the kitchen?

Students from junior high on up can’t tell the difference between fake news and the real deal according to a recent study from Stanford. Did you believe the story about the Pope endorsing Donald Trump? How about the one about thousands of wild buffalo suddenly appearing at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest? How can we separate fact from fiction in all the digital detritus? Are we teaching our kids to ask the critical questions about where and who their information comes from?

The conflict over the pipeline outside the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation is reaching a fever pitch. Last week saw the worst injury so far to a woman opposing the pipeline construction. Each side blames the other for the wound that might end up costing her arm. The injury came during a tense night in which law enforcement officers used a water hose, rubber bullets and tear gas against those who call themselves ‘water protectors’. Both sides are asking for federal intervention. In an editorial, the New York Times asks “how can this possibly end well”?

There will be as many as one million more jobs available in science, technology, engineering and math fields by 2022. That’s the estimate listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the second part of our series on STEM, we’ll speak with Native scientists about why they chose their path. How would more Native researchers affect environmental policy decisions? Could Native engineers help solve infrastructure problems on reservations? Have you considered a career in STEM?

We are turning to a band out of Lawrence Kansas for some Native blues. They’re the Red and Blues trio from Haskell Indian Nations University and their latest album, “Hope Begins to Bloom.” Their Native roots are evident in songs like “Manifest Destiny,” “Blast off the Rez,” and “Build a Pipeline Through My Heart.” The Red and Blues members Marcus Barnoskie (Pawnee/Creek), Kahheetah Barnoskie (Pawnee/Creek) and Reign Charger (Lakota) give their insights into their music.

The initial reports of the armed conflict November 29, 1864 were that the Colorado U.S. Cavalry won a brave and difficult battle in Sand Creek. But later eyewitness accounts portray what is now considered a brutal attack that left more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho—mostly women, children and infants—dead. It is a day that will never be forgotten by those who descend from these tribal nations and others. We’ll discuss why it’s important to remember Sand Creek.

There are 74 Native languages in North America that are critically endangered, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. That means only elders speak the language and even then they do so infrequently. Those trying to revive their languages are racing against time. We’ll look at revitalization efforts from tribes on the edge of losing their language forever. Does your family speak your language?